Operational partnerships - Air support policy (O08)

1. Security protective marking

1.1 Not protectively marked.

2. Summary of changes to policy

2.1. The following changes have been made to this policy in December 2022:

• monitoring and review personnel amendments
• contact point amended to Head of Tactical Operations

3. What this policy is about

3.1.  This policy provides direction in relation to the management and use of police air support assets within the county.

Compliance with this policy and any linked procedures is mandatory.

4. Statement of policy

4.1. The use of air support provides an operational asset which can be used for a wide range of policing tasks including searching for missing persons and suspects, pursuit management and as an observational platform to assist incident commanders.

4.2. All police air support assets within the country are centrally owned and come under the auspices of the National Police Air Service (NPAS) which is operated by West Yorkshire Police from the NPAS Operations Centre based at NPAS HQ, Admin 2, Laburnam Road, Wakefield, WF13QS.

4.3. This policy is intended to ensure that air support is managed in a cost effective and operationally efficient manner for both pre-planned and spontaneous incidents.

4.4. The use of all air assets is governed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and all police air operations will comply with CAA Regulations and the Air Navigation Order.

5.Implications of the policy

5.1. Finance/Staffing/Training/Other

5.1.1. Kent Police budget for the provision of police air support via the nationally agreed ‘Actioned Call for Service’ (ACS) model.

5.1.2. Failure to properly manage air assets may lead to financial penalties being imposed upon the force.

5.1.3. There are no training or staffing issues relating to this policy other than the requirement for an understanding of the deployment criteria for aircraft.

5.2. Equality Impact Assessment (EIA)

5.2.1. This policy has been assessed with regard to its relevance to race and diversity equality. As a result of this assessment the policy has been graded as having a low potential impact.

6. Consultation

• FCR Operational Support Unit
• FCR Force Incident Managers
• Tactical Operations
• Operations Planning
• SCD
• HR
• Equality and Diversity
• Health and Safety
• Estates
• Legal
• Freedom of Information 

7. Monitoring and review

7.1. This policy will be monitored and reviewed by the Tactical Lead for Drones at Tactical Operations in consultation with the force Air Support Tactical Advisor to ensure it remains updated in line with national policies regarding air support.

7.2. It will be reviewed every two years with the next review taking place in December 2024.

8. Security

8.1 Kent Police have measures in place to protect the security of your data in accordance with our Information Management policy.

9. Retention and disposal of records

9.1. Kent Police will hold data in accordance with our Records Review, Retention and Disposal policy.